Sensible 4 Autonomous Driving Software Tested in Arctic Conditions [VIDEO]

Finnish self-driving software company Sensible 4 has begun testing its autonomous driving software, with the most recent test conducted in harsh Finland winter conditions. Photo: Sensible 4

Autonomous driving is the auto world’s newest hot topic, and while Tesla is currently seen as the leader with its Full Self-Driving beta software, a number of companies are throwing their hats in the ring to join the discussion.

Self-driving software company Sensible 4 announced on Tuesday the results from a two-week stay in Muonio, Finland, during which the team tested the autonomous driving software’s capabilities in sub-zero temperatures.

The team’s main takeaway’s from the research trip indicated one important factor, among others – that driving sensor performance still faces serious degradation in freezing or harsh conditions.

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While the results weren’t overly promising, Senior Autonomous Vehicle Engineer Antti Hietanen believes the trip will still provide a lot of potential for future research, as it helped identify important blind spots for autonomous driving hardware.

“We were interested in collecting image data of snowy road conditions. Testing on the slippery roads and during a heavy snowfall was good practice for the future development”, explains Senior Autonomous Vehicle Engineer Antti Hietanen from Sensible 4’s Research and Innovation team, in an email to Tesla North.

Sensible 4 plans to launch the world’s first commercial all-weather Level 4 autonomous driving software, named Dawn, by next year.

“Based on the results gathered in the Lapland, it looks like we should be more than ready in 2022 when we will launch Dawn, the world’s first commercial all-weather autonomous driving software product”, explained Harri Santamala, CEO and a founder of the Sensible 4.

In any case, autonomous driving is a difficult endeavor, and while many companies are just beginning to test this software out, the world is likely to witness an autonomous driving revolution in the decades to come, and certainly, one worth watching.